Wrecked Vette Wednesday: C1 Saved from Scrapyard by Smoke Alarm

Wrecked Vette Wednesday usually depicts the horrific fate of a Corvette, but this time is a little different. According to Firegeezer.com a fully restored 1956 Corvette was spared a trip to the wrecking yard thanks to the installation of a simple smoke detector in the garage. Tom Archey and his wife Sue were watching a Seattle Mariners game on TV when their smoke detector alerted the couple to a blaze in their garage. Upon entering the garage, Archey saw that his classic Corvette was on fire and instructed his wife to call 911; as Sue Archey dialed, her husband grabbed a fire extinguisher to subdue the flaming Corvette.

Thanks to the quick actions of the couple the Corvette can be saved from the wrecking yard and their home was not destroyed in the process. Once the Bend Fire Department arrived at the Archey’s home, they were able to remove the car from the garage, douse the flames and save the home from serious damage. A video from Oregon’s KTVZ-TV station reported that Corvette sustained an estimated $25,000 in damage, but it was fully insured. A subsequent investigation determined that an electrical fire under the hood of the ’56 ignited the blaze. There are two important lessons from this story; smoke alarms in the garage are an excellent idea, and always have good insurance!